The Great Gatsby book cover
An illustrated book cover reimagining The Great Gatsby through symbolism and narrative interpretation
For this book cover redesign, I reimagined The Great Gatsby through the novel’s recurring themes of desire, time, and illusion.
The challenge was to translate its layered symbolism into a single image that could capture the story while still inviting curiosity.
The cover illustration brings together recognizable motifs from the novel, creating a cover that rewards a closer look.
Rather than illustrating a single scene, I explored how the novel’s recurring symbols could be combined and reinterpreted across several concepts before arriving at the final direction.
Concept explorations
The final direction brings multiple symbols into a single composition, using the hourglass form to reflect the story’s relationship with time, longing, and the pursuit of an unreachable past.
